BROOKLYN — Weight benches became impromptu dance platforms. A cooler, often stocked with protein shakes, was filled with bottles of beer. A partygoer who was using a cable weight machine handed a long green braided poppers canister to a grateful friend. As a DJ played a track by Major Lazer, a hairy figure wearing a mustard shirt glimmered on inline skates.
A squat circle also served as a dance floor, step, and occasionally a place to make out in the center of the room.
The occasion was “K.O.: A Celebration of Dawnii”, a fundraiser held at OutBox Gym in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood on Saturday. The party’s proceeds were for potential boxing lessons for transgender individuals.
The “Dawnii” being celebrated was Dawn Dawson. In January, Dawson had been discouraged from joining a women’s boxing gym in Brooklyn after disclosing that she was transgender.
Her friend Ian Kumamoto reached out to her to help come up with a response after she shared the experience with him on social media. Since Dawson moved to Brooklyn from Miami two years ago, the two have been friends. Both of them had collaborated on events for Whorechata, the gay POC-centered gathering social Kumamoto founded.
“We came up with this idea of creating a group as an act of resistance”, Dawson said. The “trigger effect” was caused by the mutual respect for our community and the desire to take a stand against those who don’t let people like me in their establishments.
For Saturday’s event, Whorechata joined forces with sponsors from other gay parties including Bubble_T, Body Hack, and Raw Honey. Max Adler offered to host the celebration at his 2021-opened trans-centered gym OutBox.
For the night, Telfar provided tracksuits for Dawson and Kumamoto. The designer Alex Consani even made an appearance.
The night’s performers were chosen by Dawson and Kumamoto from their community. “We had all transgender DJs, all trans performers”, Dawson said.
Since there was no working microphone at the location, Kiko Soirée served as emcee, which was a feat in itself. “Don’t forget that when we come together, when we organize, when we are a community, we’re unstoppable”, Soirée shouted to the audience, answered by applause.
Drag performers jumped off the ropes of the boxing ring and collected tips from three edges of the stand-alone stage, which was illuminated by a massive light as it spun around the market. Dawson stood front and center, applauding, snapping, and cheering.
Some performers pantomimed punches and jabs while playfully antagonizing one another. As the theme from “Rocky” played, the drag king Cunning Stunt entered the ring in full boxing garb.
The host, who was dressed in a goalkeeper’s plaid shirt and wore a corset, was prompted to blow the gold whistle that dangled from a cord around her neck as the show’s final act reached its climax.
But the confrontations onstage were completely theatrical. After the shows, smiles, hugs, and kind words abounded as patrons danced and drank into the evening.
One attendee who identified herself as Jade approached me with a handheld fan. “You looked hot”, she said. “I’m a Sagittarius, so sharing is caring”. She then took a bottle of water and walked away on her girlfriend’s shoulder.
In what appeared to be the most cheerful dance circle I’ve ever seen, partygoers took turns performing on a compact stripper pole. Dawson herself dropped into a dramatic split to the applause of spectators.
The vibes were overwhelmingly positive, the smiles exceedingly wide. The creator of the clubwear and underwear label Leak NYC, Louis Dorantes, praised the entire evening as being so genuine and pure.
The owner of OutBox, who had spent the night cleaning up spills and picking up trash, said, “I felt like the event was really a trans-centered event rather than a trans-friendly occasion.”
He considered the party a great success. “I wasn’t shutting it down”, said Adler. “At 4:30, we had the lights on, we were vacuuming, and people were still dancing.”
